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Archive for December, 2013

In the midst of the last minute “beat the clock” emails from various elected officials and candidates appealing for donations before tomorrow’s deadline, Congressional Candidate Pat Marciariello just sent out an announcement that he was withdrawing from the race. I had heard some rumors that this was a possibility, but I must say I did not realize how soon it could actually happen. This now leaves Supervisor John Moorlach, Senator Mimi Walters and Greg Raths as the remaining contenders in the GOP field.

His statement is below:

Friends,

After significant reflection with my family over the Christmas season we have decided that we will no longer continue in our candidacy for congress. I want to thank all of those who have supported us over the past four months, your kindness will not be forgotten. Monetary contributions made to my campaign will be refunded in the coming weeks.

(Update: 12/20 6:55 PM: I now have multiple conflicting stories as to whether Agran is behind this or if he is simply a supporter of the effort. A few OC Political sources closer to the Agran camp state he denies being behind this effort and argue that when Agran has been behind petition drives, ballot measures, etc., he’s been very public about it. At this point, it does remain unclear as to who is indeed the person or people behind the effort to force this special election. However, it does appear that Agran is supportive of this effort even if he is not necessarily the organizer of the effort.)

It appears Irvine Councilman Larry Agran is attempting to force a special election to oust an Irvine School Board member from office and potentially get one of his own allies elected because the school board failed to obey Agran’s will in the Great Park battle.

During the 2012 elections for the Irvine Unified School District, Larry Agran attempted to get his own slate of candidates elected to the Irvine School Board. The slate of Michael Parham, Lauren Brooks, and Paul Bokota swept the top three positions to block Agran’s slate of Carolyn Inmon, Cyril Yu, and Omar Ezzeldine, who came in fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively. (Nine candidates ran.) Bokota narrowly defeated Inmon by 706 votes. Incumbents Carolyn McInerney and Sue Kuwabara had opted not to seek re-election, thereby setting up the hotly contested slates. Parham was the sole incumbent to seek re-election. (In the interest of full disclosure, Custom Campaigns, which owns OC Political, ran the campaigns of Parham, Brooks, and Bokota in 2012.)

Not only did Agran fail to get his slate elected to school board, but also, as is well-known to most of our readers, he lost his own race for Mayor against Steven Choi and lost control of the Council when Christina Shea was elected over his ally, P.K. Wong, thereby setting up the Republican majority of Steven Choi, Jeff Lalloway, and Christina Shea. Considering the domination at the presidential and state level by Democrats in 2012, Larry Agran may well have been the saddest Democrat in California on election night 2012.

Last month, Gavin Huntley-Fenner vacated his seat on the Irvine School Board. On a 3-1 vote, the school board appointed Republican Ira Glasky to the board. (Parham voted to replace Huntley-Fenner with Hugh Hewitt.) A mysterious group has launched a petition drive to void Glasky’s appointment and force a special election. The web site does not disclose who is behind the drive, other than in the PDF of the petition, which is required in the mandatory disclosure required in state law, which names only Stephen Buxbaum and Patricia Schneider-Zioga. Schneider-Zioga is a linguistics professor at Cal State Fullerton.

In the Irvine Matters newsletter published by Agran and Councilwoman Beth Krom, they write in support of the petition drive and blast the school board for not opposing the site of the new high school at the Great Park (scroll to the bottom of this post to see the Irvine Matters email). The school site issue has been the bogeyman created by Agran to attack the plan by FivePoint Communities to develop the Great Park. The Council majority of Choi, Lalloway, and Shea voted in favor of the plan, doing in one year what Agran and his allies could not do in a decade in power – actually build the Great Park.

Additionally, multiple sources in Irvine have told OC Political that Agran supporters have stated he is behind the petition drive.

Agran is trying to turn the school board and the school site into a political football in his battle to stop the construction the Great Park; this special election is Agran’s attempt to bully the school board into backing his position on the school site at the Great Park.

The text of the petition itself notes, “The cost for conducting the election called for in this petition is estimated by the Orange County Registrar of Voters to be $392,779-$443,329 if the election is a stand-alone election.” Glasky is forced to run for re-election in November; this special election would be held just a few months before Glasky is due to run. There are many times when forcing a special election in lieu of appointment would be appropriate, but it simply is not the case here. Agran’s agenda is not an adequate reason to force a special election.

Pursuant to Education Code Section 5091(c), petition proponents must gather signatures from registered voters within the Irvine Unified School District equivalent to 1.5% of the number of registered voters at the last election for school board. There were 109,490. In other words, they must submit 1,643 valid signatures of registered voters by tomorrow’s legal deadline to the OC Superintendent of Schools at the OC Department of Education. (Our information indicates the proponents have been gathering signatures for about two weeks now.)

People who have signed the petition but now wish to withdraw their signature should contact the OC Department of Education at 714-966-4000 or the OC Registrar of Voters at 714-567-7600, as those two agencies are responsible for the administration of the election and the ministerial acts involving the petition, including the verification of petition signatures.

Dan Chmielewski at The Liberal OC and we here at OC Political don’t agree on much, but we agree with Chmielewski on this issue, as he has written in opposition to the petition drive:

IUSD has progressives, moderates and conservatives on the Board; they work well together with a minimum of politics to advance education in Irvine so that the teachers, administrators, students and parents have the education possible considering the low state funding we get regularly.

So whoever is behind this petition drive really isn’t pro-education in Irvine; a special election six months in advance of a regular election is a waste of money. At least have the backbone to stand up and identify yourselves as being behind the effort. This is a shame to Glasky. His family donates countless hours to the schools and the community so he clearly understands the issues our district faces and his legal background is an asset to the district.

Simply put; if you’re in Irvine and you’re pro-education, don’t sign the petition.

The Voters, Not the Politicians, Should Decide who Represents the Students and Taxpayers.

INSTRUCTIONS: Please click on the button to download the petition. You can collect up to six signatures on each petition, but be sure that just one person collects the signatures on any given sheet and fully completes the bottom portion. Signers and collectors both need to be registered voters. Signers need to be voters in the Irvine Unified School District (collectors can be registered anywhere in CA).

Have petitions to be picked up?

Call or text us at (949) 214-4250 or email us info@iusdpetition.com and we will have a volunteer get them from you.

Irvine Matters, the Agran-Krom newsletter, sent this message out to their email list:

Dear Friends,

We’re writing to you because of your opposition to Site A for Irvine’s next High School — Site A is adjacent to a toxic landfill and 1,000 yards from the rapidly growing Musick Jail.

Given the role the Irvine Unified School District Board will play in determining the future High School site, we wanted to make you aware that a petition drive is currently underway to require a special election to fill the Irvine School Board seat previously held by Gavin Huntley-Fenner.

Disregarding the democratic process, the School Board quickly appointed someone to fill the seat in an attempt to foreclose any opportunity for Irvine voters to have a say in who represents them on the Irvine Unified School Board. Incredibly, the man they appointed has already gone on record in support of Site A! In fact, he’s been quoted as saying, “Nothing I have seen so far, has led me to believe that Site A is not a qualified, acceptable, preferable site.”

Those who sign must be registered voters and live within the Irvine Unified School District boundaries. As circulator of the petition, you must fill in the information at the bottom of the petition, including your own signature.

To ensure that signature gathering procedures are followed,
please read the instructions on the petition carefully, and be sure the completed petition is turned in BY DECEMBER 20th the “old fashioned way” — either picked-up from you by an authorized person in the petition drive or mailed (snail mail!) to the petition proponent: Stephen Buxbaum, 4666 Sierra Tree Lane, Irvine, CA 92612.

Petition drive organizers will collect your completed petitions if you e-mail them at info@iusdpetition.com or text to 949-214-4250.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Petitions cannot be scanned, copied or sent electronically to be considered valid.

If you believe your views on where to site Irvine’s next High School are not being effectively represented by the School Board, we encourage you to sign and circulate the petition.

Valid signatures must be gathered and turned in by December 20th to ensure that deadlines are met for submitting signatures to the Orange County Superintendent of Schools.

Time is short. If you think the School Board seat should be filled by special election, please get your family members, friends and neighbors to sign this petition over the next week.

Like you, we have been frustrated by the seeming lack of concern the Irvine Unified School District Board has demonstrated with respect to the serious health and safety issues associated with their proposed Site A for Irvine’s next High School. At a time when issues of elevated levels of toxins at Malibu High School are a major news story here in Southern California, (LINK: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles&id=9335630), officials for the Irvine Unified School District seem determined to build on a site adjacent to a capped toxic landfill and just 1,000 yards from the rapidly expanding Musick Jail site.

Only with a special election will voters have a choice in who represents them. Remember, time is short. If you want your interests represented, help gather the signatures needed by December 20th.

If you have questions about the petition drive, you can e-mail the organizers at info@iusdpetition.com.

The Public Records Act, along with the Brown Act, are the two most important state statutes that are supposed to provide open and transparent government from local city councils, boards, and other agencies. Mission Viejo needs to review its document retention policy to determine whether it is being as transparent as possible.

On October 24, 2013, Mission Viejo resident Larry Gilbert made a simple Public Records Act request for all communications between Dennis Wilberg, the Mission Viejo City Manager, and the city managers of Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente regarding Gilbert and the Community Common Sense newspaper from August 1, 2013 to the date of the request. Gilbert knew Wilberg had sent an email on September 12, 2013 to the San Juan Capistrano City Manager referencing Gilbert and Common Sense because he had received a copy of it from a friend. However, even though Gilbert made the request just over 40 days after Wilberg sent the email, the City responded that it had no documents responsive to Gilbert’s request. At the December 2, 2013 City Council meeting, when pressed by Gilbert about his request, Wilberg stated that he had deleted the email so it was no longer available for production.

Given the proliferation of email accounts among local elected officials and staff, the issue of email retention has become increasingly important. In late 2011/early 2012, an Anaheim Planning Director told staff, under the threat of disciplinary action, to delete old documents and electronic files. Earlier this year, a Modesto attorney sued to stop the city from automatically deleting emails that were more than 30 days old. Open-government advocates are alarmed at the short duration that some local agencies keep emails before purging them.

As these and other cases demonstrate, cities and other local agencies struggle to balance the need for public transparency with the need to maintain their records in an efficient manner. While state law does not state how long emails should be retained, it does require many records be maintained for two years. Moreover, many open-government advocates assert that purging after 30 days is neither required by law, nor in the spirit of guaranteeing the most open and transparent government possible.

I asked all five Mission Viejo council members to provide me with the city’s document retention policy, as well as whether the city had done any analysis of the cost of keeping emails longer than 30 days. I only received a response from two council members. Rhonda Reardon stated, “we need to take a good hard look at our email retention policy. The questions you raised are good questions and will be the basis for our discussion on our communication retention policy in 2014.” Cathy Schlicht stated that she not aware of any city-wide purge system in place for emails, and that when she was assigned her email account she was told never to delete emails. Schlicht said that she only deletes the non-city addressed emails from various organizations and some staff emails on items such personal holiday greetings, out of office responses, as well as the City’s newsletters. Schlicht keeps all official communications between herself and staff, as well as email exchanges between council members and the public, and between council members themselves. Schlicht maintains that she has her emails back to 2008 when she was elected to the City Council.

It appears that there is a disconnect between what Schlicht was told (never to delete emails) and what Wilberg did (delete an email within 40 days of receiving it). It is this type of disconnect that raises the real possibility that important (or incriminating) documents are being deleted, and that is why Mission Viejo, as well as all other Orange County cities, needs to review its public document retention policies and ensure that its efforts err on the side of the public and open government.

The Family Action PAC held its annual Christmas Party on December 5, 2013. Part of the festivities included presenting “Red Tie Awards” to individuals who have made an impact in their community. This year, Costa Mesa City Councilman Steve Mensinger was awarded the “Excellence in Public Service” Red Tie. Many know the trials Steve and fellow council member Jim Righeimer have endured at the hands of the unions during the years that they have been fighting for pension and other reforms in their city.

Steve and Jim have filed a lawsuit against the Costa Mesa Police Officer’s Association, the Association’s former law firm, and one of the firm’s investigators. The lawsuit alleges a pattern of harassment by the defendants during the 2012 election campaign. One of the allegations is that the defendants sent a woman into a local restaurant and bar where Steve and Jim had gone, in an attempt to get Steve in a compromising position, which they failed to do. While at the restaurant, the defendant investigator then followed Jim home and called the police alleging that Jim was driving erratically. The police came to Jim’s home late at night and administered a sobriety test in front of his wife and young daughters, which Jim easily passed considering the strongest thing he had to drink that night was a Diet Coke.

Recently, the Orange County D.A.’s office revealed that a GPS tracking device was placed on Steve’s car during the time he was campaigning for re-election in 2012. Steve and Jim have added an allegation that the defendants are responsible for the GPS tracking device to their lawsuit. Steve has likened the ordeal to a John Grisham novel, and the law firm representing Jim and Steve calls it a sophisticated conspiracy, “straight out of the Watergate diaries.”

Jim introduced Steve at the Family Action PAC luncheon, and at the end of his speech the emotion in the room was palpable. Jim also put a very human face on the issue, pointing out the impact not only on themselves, but also on their wives who were in attendance. Steve, ordinarily very vocal, was visibly affected by Jim’s words, and was only able to choke out a thank you to Jim and all of the attenders.

If proven, the illegal, immoral, and invasive actions of the unions and their cohorts should be severely punished, both in a court of law and in the court of public opinion. If unions are resorting to these activities to protect their stranglehold on local city and county politics, they must be stopped. We should all applaud individual like Jim and Steve who are not afraid to stand against the money and power of the unions as they seek to make their cities a better place for their residents.

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We just received this Press Release from the Phillip Chen for Assembly Campaign:

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens Endorses
Phillip Chen for Assembly in AD 55

YORBA LINDA, CA – – The Phillip Chen for Assembly campaign announced this morning that Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has endorsed Phillip for Assembly in the 55th district. Sheriff Hutchens is one of the most popular public servants in Orange County.

“As a reserve deputy sheriff, Phillip Chen is committed to public safety and to helping make our homes, schools and neighborhoods safer places,” said Hutchens. “Combined with his experience as a school board member, health care expert and small business owner, Phillip has all the qualities needed to be an excellent representative for the 55th district.”

Phillip Chen is a Republican running in the 55th district with the support of the district’s current representative, Curt Hagman. The district covers parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

“I am deeply honored to have the support of Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, one of the most respected crime-fighters in California, and I look forward to working with her and our law enforcement community to keep us safe,” Chen said.

Phillip Chen is a small business owner and USC Professor who was the top vote-getter in the Walnut Valley Unified School District Board election in November of 2011. He is a top advisor on health care issues to Supervisor Mike Antonovich and a reserve Deputy Sheriff for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Phillip was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson to serve in the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, where he worked on legislation involving foster care, gang prevention, drug awareness, and mental health.

Phillip is a Doctoral Candidate at USC, he has a Master’s in Public Administration from USC and holds a B.A. in Communications from Cal State Fullerton. In addition, Phillip teaches Public Administration as an Adjunct Professor at USC.

Jack Bedell

This candidate ran for Orange County Board of Education: 4th District unopposed. This exempted them from having to open a campaign committee.

I meant to open with this post today. In 2012 a number of candidates went unopposed and a number of candidates spent under $1,000 (they don’t have to file a detailed campaign report). I will weed out races that are in this category and outline them in an upcoming post.

Arturo “Art” Pedroza

This candidate for Orange County Board of Education: Area 1 either filled out a “Form 470” which states that they would raise/spend less than $1,000 or raised less than $1,000 and still filed “Form 460” documents with the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry has declared his candidacy for the open 74th Assembly District seat.

Curry was first appointed to the Newport Beach City Council in 2006 and has run three elections, including two with well-funded opposition, winning both by 10 points (He was unopposed in 2012).

For over 20 years, Curry was a partner/owner of the nation’s largest public finance consulting organization, Public Financial Management where he advised states, cities and local agencies throughout the nation. The firm was sold to a private equity group in 2009 and Curry retired in 2011 to form the Center for Public Policy at Concordia University. He put together a board of bi-partisan heavyweights and has hosted several events in the past two years.

Curry also teaches public policy and government leadership courses in Concordia’s graduate business school.

Curry has a long Republican history, serving for five years in the Ronald Reagan administration as the Special Assistant to the Federal Transit Administrator, and prior to that as a Deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum. In 2011, he led efforts to create a Ronald Reagan Centennial Memorial in Newport Beach.

In 1978-79, Curry worked with Paul Gann and managed the qualification effort of Gann’s “Spirit of 13 Initiative” that limited the growth of government spending. Proposition 4 as it was known actually resulted in state tax rebates under Governor Deukmejian, but was later modified to limit its effectiveness.

A 20 year member of the Lincoln Club, Curry demonstrated strong fundraising capability in his city council races. As the only candidate with the personal financial resources to self-fund his campaign, Curry appears to be in a very strong position out of the gate.

He was selected by his fellow elected officials to be the President of the Association of California Cities Orange County, President of the Orange County Division of the League of Cities, and President of the Orange County Parks Commission.

One of the biggest advantages that Curry has is his name identification in AD-74 both as a Newport Beach Councilmember and his teaching at Concordia in Irvine. His candidacy will likely end any speculation of Leslie Daigle jumping into the AD-74 fray.

Based on the current field, Curry will likely be fighting it out with Huntington Beach Mayor Matt Harper to win this seat. Other candidates that have declared their intention to run for this seat include AD-72 staffer Emanuel Patrascu and former Santa Ana City Council candidate Karina Onofre. In my initial posts profiling AD-74 I had mentioned former CRP Treasurer Keith Carlson as a potential candidate for the seat. Everybody I have been talking with has stated that they doubt that Carlson will run for the seat and as of today he has not opened a campaign committee. Unless I hear otherwise I will exclude Carlson from future posts on the topic of AD-74.

Harper and Curry are Councilmembers in two of the larger cities in AD-74. Newport Beach has approximately 50,000 registered voters and Huntington Beach has approximately 53,000 voters. Irvine is the largest city in AD-74 with it being home to approximately 62,000 voters but none of the three Irvine Council Republicans Steven Choi, Jeff Lalloway, or Christina Shea expected to announce their candidacy for this seat, especially since Choi and Lalloway live in AD-68.

This race is going to be extremely interesting and we here at OC Political will keep you posted on new developments as they happen in AD-74.

In a handy tool for their State Assembly campaigns, AD-55 Candidate Craig Young became Mayor of Yorba Linda last night and AD-74 Candidate Matt Harper became Mayor of Huntington Beach on Monday night.

Being mayor during the same year as an Assembly candidacy lends itself to a few helpful advantages:

“Mayor” is stronger than “Councilman” as a ballot designation. Many voters do not realize that most California mayors are effectively the chair of the city council; these voters instead think of executive mayors, like the types in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, and Chicago. (For the political scientists out there, many California voters believe they live in a city with a “strong mayor-council” system when in reality, most California cities have “council-manager” systems.)

Mayors tend to get more press coverage than councilmembers, as reporters are more likely to quote a mayor than a councilmember.

Mayors get more of the spotlight at community events. Rather than asking five or seven councilmembers to speak at an event, most organizers will simply ask the mayor to speak. After all, people attending a community event would generally prefer to hear a speech from one politician rather than speeches from about a half-dozen politicians.

At this point in the AD-55 race, Young’s opponents for the Republican nomination are Diamond Bar Councilwoman Ling-Ling Chang and Walnut Valley Unified School Board Member Phillip Chen. Chang will not be mayor during her Assembly bid, as Carol Herrera became Mayor of Diamond Bar last night. AD-55 Incumbent Curt Hagman is termed out. You can find previous OC Political posts on the AD-55 race here.

Mayor Harper is the only elected official to have thrown his hat in the AD-74 ring as of this morning. His two opponents for the Republican nomination are 2010 Laguna Beach City Council Candidate Emanuel Patrascu, whose day job is as District Director for State Assemblyman Travis Allen, and 2012 Santa Ana City Council Candidate Karina Onofre, whose day job is split between working for H&R Block and as a Field Representative for State Senator Bob Huff. AD-74 Incumbent Allan Mansoor is running for Orange County Supervisor. You can find previous OC Political posts on the AD-74 race here.